Operators of websites offering online content may manage an inventory of advertisements that may be shown to visitors viewing content of a website. When a user may visit a website, the operator of the website or a third party may choose to show one or more advertisements to the user with the expectation that the user may select an advertisement to buy advertised goods or services. Advertisers may bid to have their advertisement shown to a visitor viewing particular content of the website. Or the operator of the website or third party may choose the advertisement and may generate revenue whenever a visitor may select an advertisement shown while viewing content of the website.
For some visitors of a website, properties of the visitor may be known and can be used for selecting an advertisement by matching the known properties of the visitor to the content being viewed. However, a vast majority of visitors may be unknown, and there may not be any known properties about the visitor that may be used for selecting an advertisement based upon content matching. Without any known properties for the vast majority of visitors, operators are unable to select advertisements that may be of interest to particular visitors based upon some known properties of who may be viewing content at the website. As a result, operators of such websites remain unlikely to be able to optimize revenue generation for selecting advertisements based on content matching, especially where revenue generation relies upon click-through rates of visitors.
What is needed is a system and method that may allow operators of websites offering online content to select advertisements for unknown visitors that may be of interest to particular visitors. Such a system and method should also be able to select advertisements for known visitors viewing content at the website.